Japan from Downtown Brown Books, ABAA

Leide, The Netherlands: Hotei Publishing, 2000. First Edition. Hardcover. Near fine/Near fine. A pioneering publication which deals with the most famous series-the Seishu gishi den (1847-48) and its sequel the Seishu gishin den (1848)-of the forty-seven masterless samuri (ronin) by Utagawa Kuniyoshi"-dust jacket. 191 pages. Illustrated in color. 10 by 12 inches. First edition (no indication… Read more about this item

Tokyo: Rokko Shuppanbu, 1943. First Edition. Trade paperback. Very good. A very scarce wartime history of the Japanese in California that argues that the internment of Japanese and Japanese Americans was a symptom of the same pervasive anti-Japanese attitudes among Americans that had contributed to the Second World War. The author, according to Yuji Ichioka writing in… Read more about this item

Tokyo: Gaimushu (Ministry of Foreign Affairs), 1924. First Edition. Trade paperback. Good. A Japanese Foreign Ministry publication which compiles into one volume the communications between the Foreign Ministry and the Japanese Embassy on the 1924 Immigration Act and other proposed discriminatory legislation. Also contains Japanese translations of English materials relating to the Act and other proposed legislation and… Read more about this item

Tokyo: Jitsugyo No Nihonsha, 1903. Trade paperback. Good. Profiles of ten successful American businessmen, published as part of a late Meiji-era interest in business practices and strategies. I would tell you who the ten American were, but I couldn't work out the phonetic spellings of their names in Japanese. [2], 4, 26, [3 leaves of plates], 371,… Read more about this item

Yokohama: (the author / Tokyo Insatsu Kabushiki Kaisha Yokohama Bunsha), 1900. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good. A privately printed version of the diary kept by Otani Kahyoe, the president of the Japan Central Tea Traders' Association. "Mr. Otani visited America and Europe in 1899-1900, when he represented both the Tokyo and Yokohama Chambers of Commerce at the Philadelphia… Read more about this item

Tokyo: Daigakukan, 1906. First Edition. Trade paperback. Very good. A little known Meiji-era novel narrated by a young Japanese immigrant in the United States. The narrator seems to have come from the class of poor young people with knowledge of the modern world but little chance of advancement in tradition-bound Japan. He offers opinions and philosophical musings… Read more about this item

Kobe, Japan: Beikoku Haken Denkyoshi Jimukyoku [American Board of Missionaries], 1883. First Edition. Good. A Christian missionary provides an illustrated travelog of the Holy Land, Europe, and the United States for Japanese audiences. Gulick, born in Hawaii (1830-1923), was stationed in Japan from 1870 to 1892. In the early 1880s, he made an extended tour of… Read more about this item

Tokyo: Konan Shoin, 1955. Hardcover. Near fine. A reference guide to American cotton fabric, with 230 samples pasted in. The purpose of the book was to provide Japanese cloth manufacturers with a reference book of Western fabric styles, names, and specifications to help Japanese factories sell to the American market. The book is printed left-to-right in… Read more about this item

[Tokyo]: Gaimusho tsushokyoku daisanka, 1920. First Edition. A bilingual pamphlet detailing the origins of and the official Japanese response to the 1913 Alien Land Law passed in California. The law prohibited foreigners who were not eligible to obtain citizenship from purchasing land or entering into leases longer than three years. It applied almost entirely to Asian immigrants, who were… Read more about this item

New York: Moffat, Yard & Company, 1908. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. The book that introduced the game of go to the English-speaking world. Smith's book drew heavily on the articles on the game by Oskar Korschelt, which were only published in a German journal of Far Eastern studies. Korschelt learned the game from Murase Shobo, the… Read more about this item

Seattle (Shiatoru): Hokubei nihonjinkai shogyo kaigisho (North American-Japanese Chamber of Commerce), 1932. Third Edition. The third edition, after much shorter versions published in 1928 and 1929. This is a promotional publication printed at a Japanese-language press in Seattle, intended to encourage pan-Pacific trade through the port of Seattle. Chapters are devoted to manufacturing, commercial business, the current state of… Read more about this item

Los Angeles: Rafu Shinposha / Los Angeles Japanese Daily News, 1933. First Edition. Trade paperback. Near fine. An example of kokumin gaiko, or people's diplomacy, in support of the Japanese Army's occupation of China. Dodo was the editor of Rafu Shimpo, the largest Japanese daily in Los Angeles, and according to newspaper accounts at the time, a frequent… Read more about this item

[Tokyo]: Gaimusho tsushokyoku daisanka, 1920. First Edition. A bilingual pamphlet detailing the origins of and the official Japanese response to the 1913 Alien Land Law passed in California. The law prohibited foreigners who were not eligible to obtain citizenship from purchasing land or entering into leases longer than three years. It applied almost entirely to Asian immigrants, who were… Read more about this item

Kyoto: Bunsen Shoin, 1929. A book tracing the history of US-Japanese relations focusing on the growth of anti-Japanese sentiment in the United States and the legal and diplomatic efforts to exclude and discriminate against Japanese immigrants. The author then turns to the growing possibility of a war in the Pacific between the two countries. The book fits into… Read more about this item

Kofuku, Gifu Prefecture, Japan: (the author), 1895. First Edition. Very good. A travelog of the author's trip to the United States to visit the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Sugishita went on to be a banker and member of the House of Representatives in Japan. This is a scarce 19th century Japanese view of the United States. … Read more about this item

Tokyo: Keibunkan, 1925. First Edition. Trade paperback. Very good. An examination of the likelihood and potential shape of a war in the Pacific between Japan and the United States, with an emphasis on naval and aerial battles. Kawashima focuses more on the Philippines and Guam and less over Hawaii than some writers on the subject. He also considers… Read more about this item

Tokyo: Chuokoron-shinsha, 2022. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. In addition to being a prolific novelist, Murakami has done extensive translation work, including bringing many American writers like Raymond Carver, Raymond Chandler, Ursula LeGuin, Truman Capote, J. D. Salinger, and Fitzgerald into Japanese. Translation, with running, is one of his main avocations, something he does for fun. This is… Read more about this item

Tokyo: Chuokoron-shinsha, 2020. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. In addition to being a prolific novelist, Murakami has done extensive translation work, including bringing many American writers like Raymond Carver, Raymond Chandler, Ursula LeGuin, Truman Capote, J. D. Salinger, and Fitzgerald (The Great Gatsby) into Japanese. Translation, with running, is one of his main avocations, something he does for fun. … Read more about this item

New York: Rizzoli, 1987. First Edition. Hardcover. Near fine/Near fine. A color photo monograph on one of the masterpieces of Japanese architecture. Over 200 illustrations; 192 in color. 267 pages. 10-1/2 by 13-1/2 inches. Translated from the Japanese. First US edition. A near fine copy in a fine dust jacket. Boards slightly splayed (bowed out).

Milwaukie, OR: Dark Horse Books, 2004. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine. An oversized book reproducing examples of Stan Sakai's Usagi Yojimbo artwork from throughout his then twenty-year career. Many of the drawings are previously unpublished. With a 32-page color section of Sakai's paintings, many of which are cover illustrations. Usagi Yojimbo, an anthropomorphic samurai saga with a rabbit… Read more about this item